Each year, Athletic Business invites sports architects to submit their best athletic, fitness and recreation facilities to be published in our annual Architectural Showcase. This past week, we welcomed seven industry-leading architects to serve on our panel of judges charged with selecting the 10 projects deserving AB's Facilities of Merit distinction. This year, the panel sifted through 65 entries, scrutinizing each plan detail and photo for evidence of functionality and efficient use of site and resources.

The chosen honorees in our 33rd Facilities of Merit class will be announced this fall and further profiled in our November issue. Look for the projects and their architects at the Athletic Business Conference and Expo in San Diego, Nov. 20-23. Until then, check out our behind-the-scenes peek into the war room of Facilities of Merit judging.

Among the most visible legacies of the Older Americans Act of 1965, a spate of senior center construction produced facilities intended to provide educational and recreational services, and to serve as hubs for the delivery of community-based social services. For a generation, senior centers were more community than rec — multipurpose rooms that could host community and family gatherings, bridge games and bingo nights.